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1. WithHolm commented on Jul 21, 2021

   

   Philip Meholm (WithHolm)

   on Jul 21, 2021

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   Doesn't this defeat the point of the command?
   I mean you want to get the childitems of said path, not the path-item itself.

   In what use cases would you use this added parameter?
2. JohnLBevan commented on Jul 22, 2021

   

   John Bevan (JohnLBevan)

   on Jul 22, 2021

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   Doesn't this defeat the point of the command?

   I understand your point; that the name of the command uses the world "Child". However I wouldn't use the phrase "defeats the point" as this doesn't impact the current functionality; and there's not an existing way (with a single command) to get a folder and its decedents. Rather I'd say it adds flexibility.

   Perhaps adding a -IncludeDecendents switch to the Get-Item cmdlet would be more appropriate based on the function names? To me that feels less intuitive; but either option would be welcome.

   In what use cases would you use this added parameter?

   In most cases where I'd call GetChildItem -Path $Path -Recurse where I'm interested in folders rather than solely files, there's a 50:50 on whether or not I'd also want to include the parent... Most times I want $Path; GetChildItem -Path $Path -Recurse | % FullName though sometimes I want Get-Item -Path $Path; GetChildItem -Path $Path -Recurse.

   A couple of examples I can think of when this would be useful are:

   • Looping through folders to report on or amend permissions
   • Comparing folder structures of 2 directories

   .. but really most cases where you'd be interested in the folders of Get-ChildItem there's likely a case where the parent may be of equal interest to its content.